Wednesday, 30 April 2008

The novel is about the life of a Chinese girl living in Seventeenth Century China. Although at the time education for women and allowing women to the theatre were looked down upon, Peony is encouraged by her father to love literature. The book centre around the famous Chinese play, Peony in the Pavillion, and the story and characters of the novel grow to reflect those from the play.

Peony meets and falls in love with a hansome stranger just months before her arranged wedding, when her mother finds out she is locked away in her bedroom, and so the story of unforgetable love begins....

I thought that this book was well written and I learnt a large amount about Chinese customs, beliefs, herbal medicine and literature.

Definately well worth picking up.

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Tuesday, 29 April 2008

This challenge is held over at Notable Books, participants need to read a selection of books from the Notable Books list.I'm going to try and read 8 books, one for each month of the year left:1. THE GATHERING, by Anne Enright.2. AFTER DARK, by Haruki Murakami.3. THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, by Mohsin Hamid4. A Swift Pure Cry, by Siobhan Dowd*****5. The People's Act of Love, by James Meek (Canongate)6. Night of Sorrows by Frances Sherwood7. The New Policeman, by Kate Thompson8. The Space Between Usby Thrity Umrigar

This is my proposed list although this may change. I'm abandoning this challenge as I'm very unlikely to finish it this year, I'll have a try next year I'm sure

Sunday, 27 April 2008

I really liked this book, will definately be checking out more of this authors work in the near future.

The novel is based in a small village, the devil comes to visit putting temptation in the villagers way - if they murder someone the village the whole village will be given enough gold for them all to be rich. The novel focuses a lot on the idea of a sacrifice for the greater good.

Definately well worth a read.

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Friday, 25 April 2008

This has always been one of those books that I felt that I should read but never fancied it, when I saw it offered as a Bookring on Bookcrossing I thought I'd have a go. AND I really enjoyed it!

I don't like computers, wouldn't know how to prgram one and wouldn't know Star Trek from Doctor Who, but despite all the techiness of this novel I got sucked into their little world. Ultimately, this is a novel about twenty-somethings striving for promotion and getting lost in the world of work. They strive for the 'life' others have but never seem to escape their circular lives, then things start to change...

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Sunday, 20 April 2008

United Kingdom - "a World Book Day poll conducted by the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), in which librarians around the country were asked the question, 'Which book should every adult read before they die?' "I've completed 58% of these and I reckon that I could easily finish the rest of the list in the next couple of years, BUT I doubt I'll quite make 100% as I'm not sure about reading the Bible. I aim to complete the list by 2010.The Orange Prize have also list 50 Contemporary Great Reads of which I have read 40%, many of these books fit into the MLA or the 1001 list so I'm also tackling this!

My problem with this book was I had such high expectations, I thought it'd make me want to grab a backpack and take myself off to explore the beauty and culture of South America. The film had.

However I felt that I never got to 'see' South America or to 'know' the two travellers. As the book moved so fast from one area to another there was very little detailed description, the scenarios which were played out so well in the film were mentioned but also not given a lot of attention.

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Saturday, 19 April 2008

This book covers two worlds in alternate chapters, one is the world of Dave, a London Cabbie struggling to cope with his divorce and the lack of time he is able to spend with his child. In a state he writes The Book of Dave, a book of rules about how the world should be run. The second world is a dystopian London, The Book of Dave has been found and they live strictly by his misogynistic rules, women treated as baby incubabtors and the week divided equally into Mummytime and Daddytime.

I loved this book, the first chapter was bloody hard work as I had no idea what was going on and the phonetically spelt Cockney was torturous, but I perservered, things started coming together and the dialect become so familiar that I could read it with no problem.

The novel is filled with many messages about the way that family life is disintegrating in our multi-racial societies.

Definately well worth the effort and I'll be adding novels by Will Self to my mental TBR list.

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

I hear so much praise for this author but I have decided that he definately isn't for me. I read The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and thought it was ok, but nothing special. So I thought I'd give another one of the books a go. This one has put me off for life. I dragged myself through the first 100 pages then abandoned it, I have far too much on my TBR pile to be reading books I don't enjoy.The characters were flat, the situation mundane and I just thought kind of pointless.

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Thursday, 17 April 2008

So far I have read 16 Booker winners (I knew my degree would come in handy somewhere!). I have now signed up to try and read all of the Booker winners. The 2008 challenge, challenges participants to read 6 books which have won, been shortlisted or longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, they can be from any year.

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

This is my own personal challenge, although I am participating with a bookcrossing challenge (10 out of 100 out of 1001 BYMRBYD Challenge) which is being hosted here by Meexia, for part of my personal challenge, I'm attempting to read all of the books on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die List, with no time limit. So far this year I have read 7 books from this list my challenge to myself is to read another 12 before Christmas. In total I have read 0nly 14% of the books on the list :(

A 2008 update has been made of the 1001 list, but I'm sticking to the old list as I know where I am with it. If they keep updating it every few years people are unlikely to ever finish it. Red shows that I have red it, blue means I own it and I plan on reading it.